Faculty member fondly remembered by friends, colleagues

The Signal Staff

Joe Giarratano, associate professor of computer science and computer information systems until retiring in February, passed away Sept. 25 from congestive heart failure.

Giarratano joined UHCL in 1985 after receiving his Ph.D in physics from UT-Austin and working several years in the computer science industry.

President William Staples said in a statement to university employees, “Dr. Giarratano made many contributions to the university and to his academic program and will be missed by his colleagues.”

Aside from teaching classes, Giarratano published several books including “Expert Systems, Principles and Programming,” which has been internationally used since 1989. The book is a New York Times best seller.

Kwok-Bun Yue, professor of computer science, worked with Giarratano and remembers fondly his first experience with him.

“When I first came to the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1988, I was fresh out of graduation and was unfamiliar with the academic system here,” Yue said. “Many senior faculty members were helpful but Dr. Giarratano was the only one who invited me to lunch. I still remember clearly that at the end of the lunch, in his classical witty style, he said, ‘There it is. Now you know everything about the programs here.’”

Flags at UHCL were lowered Sept. 30 to pay respect to Giarratano and funeral services were held Oct. 1 at the Community of Christ Church in Webster.